JEAN GUMPPER

Colorado print artist Jean Gumpper describes the woodcut as a way to express her experiences in nature. The carving of the woodblock and the layering of the ink she likens to natural processes such as the layering of leaves, water, and trees reflected through light.

“In my work as an artist and printmaker, I respond to landscape as a metaphor for emotions and experiences. Being alone in nature helps me to listen to my intuition and to have the patience necessary to really see. I seek to integrate the memories, sounds and feelings of being in the landscape into the making of the print. The carving of the woodblock and the layering of the ink, for me, echo natural processes such as the layering of leaves, water, trees and light. Each color is mixed carefully and applied in a series of transparent and opaque overlapping layers through a reduction woodcut process and gradually, the layers build up into a completed image. Making the print is a way to relive an experience and to share it with others.”